KEY THOUGHT: The Internet has brought a wealth of information to our fingertips. Unfortunately, a lot of the information targeted towards marketers is just plain wrong for their products or brand.
Here is my list of the top bullshit storied targeted at marketers:
1ne: You HAVE to target millennials
This is just pure garbage. Despite the keen marketing interest in Millennials, the figures show that this group is lagging behind considerably. Even though household wealth for Millennials has grown a stunning 500% from 2010 to 2019, this cohort only captures 4% of total US household wealth – and just 2% of affluent household wealth.
Separating out net worth along generational lines, it’s Baby Boomers who possess more than half (54%) of all of US household wealth. Affluent Baby Boomer households also make up 57% of the total household wealth in this category, and those Boomers in high net worth households make up 56% of total household wealth
Baby Boomers are also spending more than the other generations, with Epsilon reporting that Boomers spend $548.1 billion annually, a figure nearly $200 billion more than the next highest spending generation (Gen X).
2wo: TV is dead you need to invest more on online marketing
To move money from TV to the Internet is perhaps the dumbest thing any marketer can do. A study from Adobe surveyed 1,000 U.S. TV buyers, found that marketers still rank TV higher than most digital formats—including audio, display, native, out-of-home, search, and social—in the “ability to build an emotional connection with a brand.”
Research has shown that consumers pay more attention to TV advertising. A study by professor Karen Nelson-Field of the University of Adelaide, for instance, used eye-tracking to show that TV commanded twice the active viewing of YouTube. It also commanded 15 times the active viewing of Facebook.
TV reaches approximately 70% of a country’s population a day, 90% in a week and nearly everyone in a month. It is the unique combination of this reach together with the huge volume of time spent watching TV that makes it such a powerful form of advertising.
3hree: Content is needed for good branded site
Time is the new currency, and people don’t have time to read content on how to spruce up a frozen pizza yet brands insist that they need to add content that’s not being read. Of course it depends on the product category but for the most part, people go to their booked sites or social media and don’t want to read new tuna fish recipes.
4our: Big data can help us get closer to our customers
A pure canard. There are too many micro segments of consumers today to be captured by big data. Besides, by the time you’re analyzing big data and finalizing meetings with PowerPoints consumers have moved on.
There are two things that separate great marketers from average marketers. The first is having a sense of empathy and being able to see things as a consumer. The second is being able to think for yourself and asking “how does this apply to OUR brand/products?
